


Memories and Garden Paths

by danceswithhamsters01



Series: Reddit Prompts [43]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 21:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithhamsters01/pseuds/danceswithhamsters01
Summary: Based on a prompt from r/dragonageInquisitor Trevelyan and Warden Stroud made it out of the Fade, Ava Hawke did not. A look at things back at Skyhold after the battle at Adamant.





	Memories and Garden Paths

Prompt 11: [Visual Prompt](<https://objects.artspan.com/member/kevmiles/500/119985.jpg>)

 

The garden was beautiful, there was no denying that. The trees had unfurled their emerald leaves, heralding the arrival of spring. The shrubs were exploding with red and pink blossoms. A sweet, spicy scent lightly touched the air courtesy of the blooms. Where there had been nothing but rock and dry earth, a small pond now glimmered in the midday light. It reflected the surrounding flora and stonework around it and the visage of a dark-haired pensive woman.

 

He stood watching her from several stairs away. She was sat upon the stone wall staring into the pond. It wasn’t often that he caught sight of her both alone and not busy. There were a few of the usual folk in the garden, but they seemed to be giving the Inquisitor her space. Mother Giselle had left to lead a memorial service for the fallen who had not returned from Adamant. Faint strains of the Chant drifted on the wind from the chapel. It had not been a complete loss, in place of some of the fallen Inquisition troops, shaken and somber Grey Wardens had accompanied their liberators back to Skyhold.

 

Both Lady Trevelyan and Varric Tethras had been noticeably depressed since the return of the former from her unplanned trip into the Fade. Her party had consisted of herself, Warden Blackwall, Sera, Vivienne, Warden Stroud, and the reclusive Champion of Kirkwall, Ava Hawke. Ava had not returned with the rest.

 

Her head bowed and her shoulders shook. He quietly and quickly closed the distance between them, laying a large hand gently on her shoulder. In the brief moment before she startled, her reflection in the pond had betrayed her tears. She nearly fell off the bit of wall she was sitting on, but she managed to cling to a couple of larger stones, saving her from a dip in the pond and possibly frightening the school of small ornamental orange fish that swam in it. Unaware of their good fortune, the fish continued swimming in lazy circuits around their home.

 

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to startle you.”

 

She looked over her shoulder and up at him briefly before returning her gaze to the pond. The circles under her puffy eyes were purple and heavy. She closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders.

 

“She didn’t give me a chance,” she swallowed hard, voice ragged. “Before I could reach my sword, she shoved me into Stroud, yelled at him to run. He-- he wouldn’t let go of me, wouldn’t let me stop and fight.”

 

“They made the right call. We’d be doomed if we lost you. No one else can seal the rifts. You know that.” He gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. ‘ _And I’d be lost without you’_ remained unsaid.

 

“The last words that I heard her say? ‘Tell Varric I’m sorry.’ Oh Maker, what have I done? I should’ve stood and fought. I should have… We could’ve saved her. I left her to die in that… that place.”

 

Blackwall, Vivienne, and Sera had told him a different tale. The odds would’ve been hopeless if they’d engaged it seriously. That demon had been impossibly huge. There was no way six people were going to have a prayer against it. Maker, even an army wouldn’t have had much hope, from the sound of things. Hawke had done what she’d always done: spat in the face of the odds and tried to save as many as she could.

 

Cullen carefully took a seat beside the Inquisitor and put an arm around her shoulders, lightly pulling her toward him. Eylarra shivered and laid her head against his shoulder.

 

“She knew what she was doing. It sounds exactly like something she would do. She did it for years around Kirkwall, trying to save people,” he said. “Apostates, templar recruits, missing children. It didn’t matter, they were all just people to her, and people were always worth saving.”

 

A memory came to him, one of many he did not enjoy remembering. Meredith declaring a Right of Annulment. The Champion looking like an angry goddess and declaring that she’d defend what remained of the Circle. It had reminded him of her cousin back in Kinloch years earlier, who’d also gone to save what remained of a Circle. Ava’s task had been nearly hopeless, but she’d done it anyway. Anything to save an innocent life. Many of the Circle’s mages had been innocent bystanders, in truth. In the end, he’d sided with her against his own Knight-Commander. Many people died that day, but not nearly as many as could have. Some had been spared because of the Champion’s determination. And now, the woman he loved was among that number.

 

“What about her? Didn’t she think her own life was worth saving?” came as a weak reply.

 

“One life, compared to the rest of the world. A simple but difficult choice. I can’t say that I’d do it any differently if I’d been her.”

 

Bright green eyes looked up at him in anguish. _‘Don’t you dare_ _do that_ _!’_ was written in them. He lowered his arm to her waist and held her close.

 

“War does not care about who anyone is. All we can do now is make sure that her sacrifice wasn’t in vain,” he said.

 

She nodded numbly. They sat in silence until one of the tower bells began ringing mournfully as the memorial services concluded for the day. People filed out of the chapel, some quiet and contemplative and others with wet cheeks. He feared that there would be many more such services until they put a stop to Corypheus.


End file.
